Brick making machine



Aug. 18, 1931.

R. P M. DAVIS BRICK MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Aug. 18, 1931. R. P. M. DAVIS BRICK MAKING MACHINE Filed Nov. 1. 1950 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 18, 1931 Uri" res aoY r. M. DAVIS, or MOUNTUNION, PENNSYLVANIA BRICK MAKING MACHINE Application filed November 1,1930. Serial No. 492,791.

My invention relates to machines for making brick and more particularlyto means for placing the molded brick upon the pallets.

Heretofore it has been the practice to fill the mold on a bed plate. andthen invert or turn the mold over in depositing it upon the pallet.Another method hasbeen to fill the mold with the brick making material.or

mud while the mold rests upon a plunger and then remove the brick bypushing or lifting the same off the plunger. These methods have provenparticularly objectionable when soft mud is used, due to the fact '15that the mud settles during the tiltingor inverting step and where thebrick is lifted or pushed from the plunger a large percentage of broken,misshapen and otherwise damaged brick are produced.

Still another method has been to drop the mud directly into a moldresting on a pal: let. This proved objectionable due to thecomparatively rough, worn and misshapen condition of the general run ofpallets, causing defects in the brick. To overcome this it was proposedto employ a relatively thin metallic liner or cover plate between themold and the pallet for receiving the charge of mud. In the practice ofthis 3 method it was considered necessary to make the plate of thinsheet material such as tin so that during the passage of the filled moldoff the cover plate, when the transfer of the latter to the pallet wasbeing effected, the gap represented by the thickness of the plate wouldbe negligible. It was also deemed necessary to cut this thin plate awayadjacent to and just back of the body thereof on which the mold restedduring the filling operation, for the purpose of providing a largetransverse aperture through which excess mud escaping from the top ofthe mold might escape. In order to'prevent buckling of the thin platedue to the presence of the is mud aperture, it was necessary to providea reinforcement extending centrally across the aperture.

The method last described proved unsatisfactory after a comparativelyfew opera tions due to the fact that the continuous .carried forward bythe mold and become 5 trapped between the latter and the cover platenTheobject of my invention is to overcome the objections mentioned byproviding a cover plate which is free from the fore- 3 going objections,.and which is provided with means for readily anchoring theplate to the brick machine frame.

ther and further objects and advantages of my inventionwill be apparentas the specification is considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side view of the-machine partly in section, the mold beingshown in full lines in position assumed as it is pushed 7 onto the linerplate and in dotted lines in its advanced or filling position, thepedestal being shown in lowered or inoperative positlon; a

Figure 2 is a view similar toFigure 1,75 the mold being shown in fulllines in filling position and the pedestal being shown in elevated oroperative position;

Figure 3 is an end view; and

Figure 4 is a plan .view.

Referring more particularly to the. drawings'wherein like referencenumerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views, 1'denotes a pair .of transversely disposed pallet supporting. railssuitably M mounted in the main frame of the brick making machine (notshown). Secured to one of the transverse rails 1 is a guide bar 2, andto this bar 2 a cover plate or liner plate 4- is bolted or otherwisesuitably. se cured. This anchoring of thecover plate is effected bymeans of ribbons 21,,extending rearwardly from the corners of the rearedge 8 of-the plate and secured to the guide by bolts 15. The use of theside ribbons 21 for securing" the cover. plate in place, eliminates allcentral obstructions which might interfere with mold or palletqmovementsand also provide the enlarged mud escape opemng 6.

The cover plate 4 is formed from a fiat smooth relatively thick sheet,preferably of steel, of suflicient width to slidably support the brickcontaining portion or compartments of a conventional mold 5, and aspreviously stated, is held in place by ribbons 21, of sufficient lengthto extend from the receiving station A to the filling station B of themachine. Any excess mud which may escape from the top of the moldescapes through the open space 6 between the anchoring ribbons 21. Inorder to preclude the possibility of either the mold 5 or pallet 7catching on the rear edge 8 of the cover plate, as the mold and palletare moved from one station to another, this edge 8 is beveled, asillustrated in Figure 4;. Long experiments have proven that a coverplate of approximately one quarter inch thickness must be employed inorder that buckling under the constant impact of brick mud, will notoccur.

For the purpose of facilitating movement of the mold 5 to and fromvarious parts of the brick machine for filling, stripping, cleaning andother operations, not shown, the ends of the mold are notched orbeveled, as at 18, to accommodate the reversely beveled rails 9,suitably mounted in the main frame of the brick machine.

In practice the mold is pushed along the tracks 9 by any suitable means,such as pusher arms 20, and on this rail are located a multiple of moldsin the various positions required for filling, slicking, stripping etc.Intermittingly these molds are advanced forward along the rail, and inthe process of advance pallets 7 are introduced on transverse tracks 1which are on a level immediately below the lower surface of the mold.Lug 10 on themold, which extends below the lower surface of the moldcomes in contact with the pallet as the mold moves forward, and the twowill then advance together, the mold above and the pallet beneath thecover plate. The pallet rests upon and is pushed forward along thelongitudinally disposed tracks 11.

As the mold and pallet are slid along to-the filling station B, theypass the open part 6 in the cover plate and come to rest above areciprocable pedestal 12. This pedestal is then elevated by any suitablemechanism, not shown, from Figure 1 to Figure 2 position, thus tightlyclamping the mold, cover plate and pallet together. After the fillingoperation, the pedestal drops to Figure 1 or inoperative position andthe mold and pallet are again pushed forward to stripping station C.During this last step, the mold and brick therein slide off the forwardend of the cover plate and are deposited directly upon the pallet, wherethe brick are ejected from the mold by any well known means, not shown.It will be noted that the gap 22 between the bottom of the filledmoldand the top of the pallet is considerably greater than heretoforeconsidered practicable. However, lengthy experiments have proven thatthe unsupported brick has no tendency to settle down into this gapduring the transfer of the mold to the cover plate.

It will of course be understood that the relative horizontal planes ofthe mold tracks 9 and the pallet supporting tracks 1 and 11 are suchthat the bottom of the mold and the top of the pallet will be maintainedin substantially the same horizontal plane with the cover or liner platetherebetween.

After the mold has been stripped from the brick at position the mold isreturned to A position by any approvedmeans, not shown, and the cycle ofoperation just described is then repeated indefinitely.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A brick machine comprising a frame, a relatively thick smooth linerplate, spaced anchoring ribbons extending from the rear corner edges ofsaid plate and attached to the frame, means for slidably supporting amold and a pallet in contact respectively with the upper and lowersurfaces of said liner plate, and means for engaging the pallet wherebywhen said mold is pushed across and beyond the end of said plate and outof contact therewith said pallet will move correspondingly and the moldwill be deposited on the pallet,

2. In a brick machine, a relatively thick smooth liner plate forslidably supporting the brick in a brick mold, said plate havingrearwardly extending ribbons for securing the plate to the frame, saidribbons being spaced to permit escape therethrough of surplus brickmaking material.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

' ROY P. M. DAVIS.

